The fourth annual Migrating Forms media festival, which will run May 11-20 at the Anthology Film Archives in NYC, is a compelling mix of political films, pop culture explorations, ethnographic exposés and collections of new media art.

The fest begins and ends with political films directed and curated by Eric Baudelaire. His latest work, The Anabasis of May and Fusako Shigenobu, Masao Adachi and 27 Years without Images, opens the festival on May 11; while a pair of films — Masao Adachi & Kôji Wakamatsu’s Red Army/PFLP: Declaration of World War and The Dziga Vertov Group’s Ici et Ailleurs closes it on May 20.

Some of the special events sprinkled throughout the event include Ed Halter‘s survey of faux experimental films made for mainstream movies and TV shows that should prove to be an amazingly entertaining and enlightening discussion; a retrospective of the highly influential animation by Chuck Jones; the interactive TubeTime online found footage competition; and a tribute to Chilean filmmaker Raul Ruiz.

For feature-length projects, there’s Naomi Uman‘s latest personal Ukranian documentary Videodiary 2-1-2006; Raymond Pettibon’s classic fringe culture parody Sir Drone presented by Electronic Arts Intermix; Gina Telaroli’s experimental Travelling Light; and several films dealing with minor cultures within foreign countries, such as Yael Bartana’s …and Europe Will Be Stunned (Poland), Sebastián Lingiardi’s Las Pistas Lanhoyij Nmitaxanaxac (Argentina), Gonçalo Tocha’s It’s the Earth, Not the Moon (É na terra, não é na lua) (Corvo), Sylvain George’s May They Rest in Revolt (Figures of War) (Calais); and more.

Among the short experimental media programs are works by Jesse McLean, Laida Lerxtundi, Leslie Thornton and more.

The full Migrating Forms lineup is below. For more info, please visit the festival’s official website.

May 11

8:30 p.m.: The Anabasis of May and Fusako Shigenobu, Masao Adachi and 27 Years without Images, dir. Eric Baudelaire. This documentary recounts the personal journeys of May Shigenobu, the daughter of the leader of a small group of exiled Japanese radical leftists, and Masao Adachi, an experimental filmmaker who gave up making images for nearly 30 years.

May 12

12:00 p.m.: “Group Program 1”
Palácios de Pena (Palaces of Pity), dir. Daniel Schmidt & Gabriel Abrantes;
Liberdade, dir. Gabriel Abrantes & Benjamin Crotty

2:00 p.m.: “Neil Beloufa”
A retrospective of the films and installations of the French-Algerian artist, who will be present for discussion about his work that explores the dueling dichotomies of reality and fiction.

4:15 p.m.: Las Pistas Lanhoyij Nmitaxanaxac, dir. Sebastián Lingiardi. This tale of intrigue and double-agents weaves its way through the varied cultures of Argentina.

5:45 p.m.: “Group Program 2”
Hypercrisis, dir. Josef Dabernig
Walk-Through, dir. Redmond Entwistle
Black Moon, dir. Amie Siegel
Black Moon / Mirrored Malle, dir. Amie Siegel

7:45 p.m.: …and Europe Will Be Stunned, dir. Yael Bartana. This trilogy of films explores the Jewish Renaissance Movement in Poland (JRMiP), which is calling for the return of millions of Jews to Poland.

9:15 p.m.: “Group Program 3”
Der Weisse Engel, dir. Naeem Mohaiemen
Restricted Sensation, dir. Deimantas Narkevicius
Berlin Flash Frames, dir. William E.Jones
Marxism Today (Prologue), dir. Phil Collins

May 13

2:00 p.m.: It’s the Earth, Not the Moon (É na terra, não é na lua), dir. Gonçalo Tocha. An exploration of the Island of Corvo, located in the mid-Atlantic Ocean.

5:30 p.m.: “Group Program 4”
Passage, dir. Madison Brookshire and Tashi Wada
Black Mirror at the National Gallery, dir. Mark Lewis
Marina Abramovic, From Tuesday to Friday, dir. Ximena Cuevas
Pips, dir. Emily Wardill

7:15 p.m.: Indian Epic: The Tiger of Eschnapur, dir. Fritz Lang. This film and the one that follows at 9:30 p.m. are the penultimate films of Lang’s career and form an epic vision of adventure and romance in India.

9:30 p.m.: Indian Epic: The Indian Tomb, dir. Fritz Lang. See directly above.

May 14

7:00 p.m.: Prison Images (aka I Thought I was Seeing Convicts), dir. Harun Farocki. (Presented by n+1 associate editor Christopher Glazek). Exploring the similarities between life in prison, the factor and the supermarket as seen through surveillance video.

9:30 p.m.: Abendland, dir. Nicolas Geyrhalter. “A film poem about a continent at night”

May 15

7:00 p.m.: On Top of the Whale, dir. Raul Ruiz. A married anthropologist couple study the indecipherable language of two members of an Indian tribe.

9:00 p.m.: “Remembering Raul Ruiz: Shorts and Readings”
This event combines screenings of Ruiz short films and readings from his book Poetics of Cinema by artists and curators including Jeanne Liotta, Mark McElhattan, Keith Sanborn, Elisabeth Subrin, and more.

May 16

7:00 p.m.: “Ed Halter presents Un filme de Diane Chambers”
Screening several fake experimental films created for mainstream movies and television, Halter will discuss how popular media marginalizes anything that challenges its narrative dominance.

9:15 p.m.: Sir Drone, dir. Raymond Pettibon (Presented by Electronic Arts Intermix). In this 1989 parody of fringe culture, artist Mike Kelley and musician Mike Watt star as two teenagers debating the nuances and styles they must infuse in their nascent punk band.
Screening with:
Insectiside, dir. Cory Arcangel
Message My Brother Justin Left Me on My Cell From the Slayer Concert Last Week, dir. Cory Arcangel

May 17

7:00 p.m.: L’impossible – Pages Arrachees, dir. Sylvain George. Exploring the injustices of the world and  the lives of the downtrodden.

9:15 p.m.: May They Rest in Revolt (Figures of War), dir. Sylvain George. Exposing the lives of migrant persons in Calais and the mistreatment they feel they are subject to.

May 18

7:00 p.m.: “Chuck Jones Centennial”
Celebrating the 100th birthday of legendary animator Chuck Jones with a screening of some of his most classic cartoons, such as Duck Amuck, OneFroggy Evening, Ali Baba Bunny, For Scent-i-mental Reasons, Rabbit Fire, Rabbit of Seville, NoBarking, Rabbit Seasoning, There They Go-Go-Go, Rabbit of Seville, Le Beau Pepe, and What’s Opera, Doc?.

9:30 p.m.: Mondomanilla, or: How I Fixed My Hair After A Rather Long Journey, dir. Khavn de la Cruz. This film investigates the slums of Manila and its inhabitants, such as a crippled pimp, prostitutes, a Yankee pedophile, a small-time politician and more.

May 19

12:00 p.m.: Century of Birthing, dir. Lav Diaz. Two stories, one of a filmmaker who is never happy with his current opus and the other of a female-centric Christian cult.

7:00 p.m.: “Group Program 5”
Jan Villa, dir. Natasha Mendonca
Señora con flores, dir. Chick Strand
Tomorrow Everything Will Be Alright, dir. Akram Zaatari
A LAX Riddle Unit, dir. Laida Lertxundi

8:30 p.m.: “Trisha Baga” (Presented by Electronic Arts Intermix)
New work from the artist that blurs the the line between video and performance.

10:30 p.m.: “Tube Time!”
The annual competition of outrageous online found footage, this year hosted by previous champion Ben Coonley.

May 20

12:00 p.m.: Videodiary 2-1-2006 to the Present, dir. Naomi Uman. This documentary chronicles the filmmaker’s assimilation into a small Ukranian village where her family lived 100 years ago.

2:15 p.m.: “Group Program 6”
You Can’t Pretend To Be Somebody Else – You Already Are, dir. Lars Laumann and Benjamin A. Huseby
Geometric Persecution, dir. Erika Vogt
Decorations of the Mind II, dir. Shana Moulton
Extreme Animals: Am I Evil?, dir. Jacob Ciocci
SONGS, dir. Leslie Thornton
Birth of the Net, dir. Guthrie Lonergan
Depth of Field Studies, dir. Guthrie Lonergan
Girl Morph, dir. Guthrie Lonergan
Professional Berry Visuals, dir. Guthrie Lonergan
Remote, dir. Jesse McLean
Shayne’s Rectangle, dir. Dani Leventhal

4:15 p.m.: “Group Program 7”
Agatha, dir. Beatrice Gibson
Slow Action, dir. Ben Rivers

5:45 p.m.: Travelling Light, dir. Gina Telaroli. An examination of light during commuters’ progress at Penn Station on a cold, sunny winter morning.
Screening with:
Peril of the Antilles, dir. Fern Silva

7:30 p.m.: The Young Man Was (Part 1: United Red Army), dir. Naeem Mohaiemen. A meditation on the 1977 hijacking of flight JAL 472 and the ensuing negotiation between the Japanese Red Army and officials at the Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

9:15 p.m.: Red Army/PFLP: Declaration of World War, dir. Masao Adachi & Kôji Wakamatsu. Filmed in 1971, this documentary investigates a Palestinian military training camp.
Screening with:
Ici et Ailleurs, dir. The Dziga Vertov Group (Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Gorin, Anne-Marie Miéville). Unfinished in 1974, this documentary explores the ethics behind political image making.